Chang Yue, Chen Hongbin, Shi Hongrong, et al. Comparison of atmospheric temperature and humidity sounding by different sensors onboard a new composite wing UAV. J Appl Meteor Sci, 2023, 34(1): 78-90. DOI:  10.11898/1001-7313.20230107.
Citation: Chang Yue, Chen Hongbin, Shi Hongrong, et al. Comparison of atmospheric temperature and humidity sounding by different sensors onboard a new composite wing UAV. J Appl Meteor Sci, 2023, 34(1): 78-90. DOI:  10.11898/1001-7313.20230107.

Comparison of Atmospheric Temperature and Humidity Sounding by Different Sensors Onboard a New Composite Wing UAV

DOI: 10.11898/1001-7313.20230107
  • Received Date: 2022-08-08
  • Rev Recd Date: 2022-11-08
  • Publish Date: 2023-01-31
  • Satellite navigation-based autonomous drones have become an important platform for atmospheric exploration. In order to overcome the harsh take-off and landing conditions of fixed-wing UAVs and the short flight time of rotorcraft, a new composite wing UAV with rotary and fixed-wing has been developed by Middle Atmosphere and Global Environment Exploration Laboratory of Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Two field experiments of UAV soundings are carried out in Zhengxiangbaiqi, Inner Mongolia from 28 July to 6 August in 2020 and from 1 August to 6 August in 2021 to examine the performance of sounding sensors onboard the new type of UAV. The instruments used and the experiments conducted in the two phases of the experiment are introduced first, and then the temperature and relative humidity profile data obtained by different sensors onboard the UAV are compared and analyzed. The results show that the temperature bias between the AWS and the GPS radiosonde onboard UAV is about 2.00 to 2.35℃; the systematic deviation can be revised, and the correlation coefficient is 0.98. The deviation of relative humidity is 4.28% and the correlation coefficient is 0.84 in 2020. The Vaisala temperature and humidity probe are onboard the UAV in the experiment of 2021, which are in good agreement with GPS radiosonde, but the AWS is vastly different from both. The flight sounding test shows that the long-endurance composite wing UAV with rotary and fixed-wing can obtain meteorological information in the near-surface atmosphere because of its larger vertical and horizontal range than the conventional rotary-wing UAV. The AWS onboard new composite wing UAV can obtain temperature and humidity profile information of the near-surface atmosphere, but the time lag effect caused by fast descent speed is obvious. Therefore, the sensor with obvious time lag effect is not suitable for the sounding of faster flight speed. The flight attitude change and turn of the UAV in the level flight process have no obvious effects on the measurements of temperature and humidity.
  • Fig. 1  Temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction measured by ground-based GPS radiosonde on 2 Aug, 4 Aug, 5 Aug in 2020

    Fig. 2  Temperature(a) and relative humidity(b) measured along the flight trajectory UAV-borne AWS during 1010 BT-1114 BT on 2 Aug 2020

    Fig. 3  Time series of the UAV flight height, attitude angles as well as the measured temperature and relative humidity in the flight during 1010BT-1110BT on 2 Aug 2020

    Fig. 4  Time series of flight height, temperature and relative humidity measured by UAV-borne Vaisala temperature and humidity probe and GPS radiosonde on 1 Aug 2021

    Fig. 5  Scatter plots of the temperature measurements by UAV-borne sensors

    (a)AWS and GPS radiosonde on 2 Aug, 4 Aug, 5 Aug in 2020,(b)Vaisala temperature and humidity probe and GPS radiosonde on 1 Aug 2021, (c)AWS and GPS radiosonde on 3 Aug 2021, (d)AWS and Vaisala temperature and humidity probe on 5 Aug 2021

    Fig. 6  The same as in Fig. 6,but for relative humidity

    Fig. 7  Temperature and relative humidity once measured by UAV during the ascending and constant-altitude flights on 2 Aug 2020

    Fig. 8  Mean square error of air temperature(a) and relative humidity(b) measured by the UAV during the constant level flights on 2 Aug 2020

    Table  1  Specifications of temperature and humidity of 3 sensors

    仪器 气象要素 测量范围 误差范围 灵敏度
    Airmar 200WX 温度 -40~80℃ ±1.1℃(20℃条件下) 0.1℃
    相对湿度 0~100% ±5%(测量范围0~90%,在20℃条件下) 0.1%
    Vaisala HMP155 温度 -80~60℃ ±(0.176-0.0028×温度)℃(测量范围-80~20℃) 0.1℃
    相对湿度 0~100% ±1.7%(温度范围-20~40℃) 0.1%
    GPS探空仪 温度 -25~55℃ ±1℃ 0.1℃
    相对湿度 0~100% ±5% 0.1%
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    Table  2  Time and duration of UAV-borne AWS and GPS radiosonde

    试验序号 飞行时间 飞行时长 天气状况
    1 2020-08-02T10:10—11:14 64 min 晴,6级风
    2 2020-08-04T14:07—14:44 37 min 晴,5级风
    3 2020-08-05T08:29—09:25 56 min 雷阵雨前
    4 2021-08-01T14:21—14:56 35 min 阴转多云
    5 2021-08-03T11:26—12:28 62 min 阵雨后
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    • Received : 2022-08-08
    • Accepted : 2022-11-08
    • Published : 2023-01-31

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